Term Project Report:

Marginalization of Low-Income

By

Autumn Hepler

EC345 Consumer in Our Society

Seton Hill University

Professor Ethan Stubbs

December 03, 2021

 When you hear the term “marginalized” what do you think? That has been a big question

this semester. For me the group that captures all of the others is low-income. The low-income

group in the economy essentially encompasses all of the other groups. Single parent homes,

children, the elderly, underemployed and many other groups can all be seen under the category

of the marginalization of low-income. This topic is also near and dear to my heart as I fell within

this group growing up and am surrounded by neighbors currently living as low-income

individuals. So often we get an image in our head as to what people in these groups look like, but

I think society would be surprised to really find out how many individuals and families are

deemed “low-income”, but look well to do from the outside perspective. I have many examples

of this and we will get to that section in a bit.

Let us first look at what qualifies a person as low-income. “Families and children are

defined as low-income if the family income is less than twice the federal poverty threshold.”

(www.nccp.org>demographic) A family of four living under an income of just under $52,000,

which includes two children is deemed low-income. (www.nccp.org>demographic) A single

person was considered low income in 2019 with earnings less than $25,000 a year.

(www.moneygeek.com>living) Multiple factors can contribute to this group’s marginalization.

Some of these factors are things like education, one’s marital status, race, age. Also, once a

person falls under this category of life a person is not exposed to as much creativity and can

really stunt their growth mentally and emotionally, thus keeping them in a vicious cycle. Society

tends to label groups of individuals and often that label prevents society from wanting to help

these individuals grow and better themselves. The problems for low-income perpetuate and it is a

constant cycle that seems to have no end in sight. We learned early in the semester that the poor

always pay more to live like the rest of society. But the question is who is setting that tone for
how one should live and what that lifestyle should look like to “keep up with the joneses” as we

often say in society. We apply for credit cards, loans, etc to be able to buy things we cannot

afford to look like we have the materialistic things to be acceptable in society. Individuals in

low-income are already struggling to pay for necessities in life such as food, health insurance,

housing, and other basic necessities for life. This at least is the typical American standard.

According to Richard Morrill’s response in “The Emerging Geography of Inequality”, he

states “a person's location plays a major role in the amount of money that a person ears. As well

as, how much money things cost according to where you live in relation to a metro area. For

example, property taxes at my parents' house is $8,000. Down here, the taxes are about half. All

because of how close Dwight is to Chicago.” (INCOME INEQUALITY BASED ON

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION - Home (weebly.com) ) This is a basic example that paints a big

picture. We know the cost of living differs greatly per geographic area even from city to city.

What a person needs to earn at a minimum in order to survive will also be vastly different per

location. The Low Income Housing Authority states that the top three locations who have the

most Section 8 housing units are Washington D.C., New York, and Massachusetts. (What States

Have The Most Section 8 Affordable Housing? (lowincome.org) ) The Low Income Housing

Authority also states that Washington D.C. has the highest poverty rate in the entire nation.

(What States Have The Most Section 8 Affordable Housing? (lowincome.org) )

Low-income or poverty is nothing new. It has been around for hundreds of years. In the

1800, more than 80% of the population was considered to be poverty stricken. By 1990 that

percentage dropped significantly, however, almost half of the population still had low-income.

(A History of Poverty Worldwide (shorthandstories.com) ) “Poverty emerged simultaneously

with wealth. Gaps in income developed within and among nations, through combinations of

geographical location, politics and access to resources and training.” (Reference.com - What's

Your Question? ) Those of different racial backgrounds were dealing with inequality in every

aspect of life. Women had to fight for equal rights as well. Both had to fight to be paid fairly, but

for many years these groups suffered by not receiving adequate income. We learned how the

Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Suffrage Movement were pivotal moments that created

new opportunities for these groups to be treated fairly, however, it is still and argument to this

day that everyone is paid equally. Prior to these movements, the living conditions for African

Americans were sometimes inhumane. Society continues to struggle with living conditions for

all races, but some do seem to struggle with low-income more than others such as Hispanics. We

have come such a long way, but we would be foolish to think if there is any end in sight when it

comes to the problems associated with low-income.

If you will, I would like to take you on a little personal journey with me. Like I stated in

the beginning, this is a very personal matter to me. I grew up as low-income and I know so many

individuals who still fight through it every day. Let us look at a few examples of the issues seen

within low-income. The first is a nurse. That statement alone may raise some eyebrows. A nurse

is dealing with marginalization of low-income? A nurse is not an image we think of in society as

someone who would struggle with low-income. But as I pointed out earlier, so many times we

see someone from an outside perspective and think they are well-off, when really they are

struggling for basic needs. This nurse is a 43 year old woman and mother of four daughters. We

will refer to her as Sam. Sam was married to a man who refused to work and wanted to collect

government assistance. Sam divorced her husband who never paid a dime for child support or

spousal support. Sam was left with one income to support her daughters. Sam qualified for
government funded insurance for herself and her children as well as food stamps. Sam’s boss

wanted to give her a raise for being such an amazing employee and Sam said she could not

afford to bring home any money. Let’s pause here for a second. She could not afford to bring

home more money. Why you ask? If Sam’s income increased, she would lose her food stamps

and insurance. When she calculated how much it would cost her to pay the employee provided

insurance and make up the difference in groceries, she would actually have less money left over

for basic living needs than if she continued to receive the lesser income. Sam wanted more than

anything to give her daughters a good life and taught them to continue education. Sam was not

trying to “work the system”, but many times individuals are stuck in a place where they cannot

live without the assistance especially when children are involved. (43 year old female nurse)

My next interview was with one of my neighbors. I could write an entire book on this

man’s life and my interactions with him, but I wanted to keep this short and to the point. A quick

background, Mick moved into the neighborhood when he completed his sentence in jail. Mick

had to fight for his children and was given custody of his son. Mick could not work from many

health issues. Mick suffers severely from diabetes and we do not live in close proximity to a real

grocery store where he could easily walk since he does not own a vehicle. His only real options

are a Dollar General and some basic options at a pharmacy. When I asked Mick why he does not

go to the local foodbank which is only a block or two away from us, his response was “I know

there are other people who need it more than me and I do not want to take away from them.”

(Mick a 54 year old unemployed man)

Lastly I would like to tell some of my story. I interviewed my mom as I was born into a

low-income family. I will give my summary of her answer to what our life was like and some of
our struggles. My dad was the only working person for many years. He worked every bit of

overtime the company would offer and sacrificed so much time with his family in order to

provide. He always ensured we had health care even before he made sure we had food in our

bellies. In 1991, my dad was laid off from work. That spring my family received an income tax

return of $2000. My mom put that money in the bank as my dad was not working. After a hard

decision, my mom decided to go and apply for food stamps. The lady at the welfare office said

that our family did not qualify for food stamps because of that $2000 in the bank account. She

told my mom to go home and either spend the money or hide it and then we would qualify for

the food stamps. My mom said she could not be dishonest, and the welfare office told her then

our family would suffer because of it. We never ended up getting food stamps. Our family never

actually collected any government assistance in any form. My mother is a woman of great faith

and continually prayed year after year so we would get by. The year that my dad was laid off, my

family did not have any money to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner. My mom prayed by her

bedside asking God how we were supposed to get the money for Thanksgiving dinner. The next

morning at 8 am there was a knock at their front door. When my mom went to the door there was

a box filled with everything needed to make Thanksgiving dinner. As my mom took the turkey

down to the basement freezer, she heard another knock at the door. This happened four times that

day. Four times, four different people delivered four full boxes that could make four full

Thanksgiving dinners. The reason I share this story is because we struggled as a family for my

entire childhood to survive and it was not a lack of work ethic or living above our means. This

story of the turkeys is a constant reminder to our family how God provides when we trust in Him

and we would not have had that blessing if we did not know what life was like as low-income.

(Candy Hepler, 63 year old woman – my mother)

 Speaking of food, this brings me to my next topic. The one consistent problem for this

group is health issues, specifically diabetes. Those who fall under low-income cannot afford

healthy food choice and you are what you eat. While many people struggle with mental health

and other physical ailments, so many people are forced into diabetes because they cannot

properly fuel their bodies and processed foods are the cheapest which is what so many people

eat. It’s a serious problem and we need to find a way to offer healthy fresh foods to everyone, not

just those who earn a higher income.

Looking at this from a broad perspective, I would say that a short term resolution would

be what is already available. Government assistance was put in place to help those in need, but

the thing that needs to change is that this assistance should be a bridge and not a lifestyle. So I

think that this assistance should stay in place, but it needs to become a short term fix not a

lifelong commitment. As for a long term fix to help those with low-income, I would love to see a

program set up to work alongside the government assistance. I would love to see us have

programs that help people get educated, get into better paying positions, to get in their own

housing, etc. This program would provide them with assistance as the go, but the individuals

would be required to work at growing and bettering themselves instead of learning to learn on

the government for help. We need to remember that these are human beings and not a “label”.

Every person deserves dignity and to be treated with grace. As Christians, it is our job to help

those in need. We were put on this earth to be kind and loving not to judge and condemn. I

believe if we take the time to step out of our own bubbles and come together we could make

wonderful changes not only economically but emotionally, spiritually and physically.
 References

Reference.com - What's Your Question?

www.nccp.org>demographic
www.moneygeek.com>living
INCOME INEQUALITY BASED ON GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION - Home (weebly.com)
What States Have The Most Section 8 Affordable Housing? (lowincome.org)
(A History of Poverty Worldwide (shorthandstories.com)